BRIGHTON, Mass – The discussion level has kicked up between Bruins general manager Don Sweeney and JP Barry, agent for David Pastrnak, in recent days, but it doesn’t sound like the ball has moved much in one direction with a week to go until the opening of training camp.
The Bruins have made a couple of offers that came in at $6 million-per-year for a long-term deal. Barry submitted an offer to the Bruins at the end of last week for eight years that’s believed to have been for at least $8 million per. So, there’s a wide gap between the B’s and a key, 21-year-old restricted free agent who broke out for 34 goals and 70 points last season.
“Status quo there," Sweeney said at the start of rookie camp on Thursday morning. "JP and I continue to talk, and will continue to talk and find a deal at some point in time. But there’s no timetable on it and nothing really to expand on other than the nature of the talks have been ongoing.”
Sweeney added that he still believes both sides are committed to keeping No. 88 in Boston for the long term. “There’s never really been any deviance from that standpoint, from the organization or from the player, or any indications otherwise. [We just need] to find a deal that works.”
Clearly, there’s still a chance that a shorter bridge deal becomes a possibility if the two sides just can’t agree on a long-term contract, but there are no indications that's a desired option for the player or team.
With the start of B’s rookie camp commencing, the urgency starts to go a little higher with NHL camp a week away and Pastrnak expected to be one of the big offensive catalysts on the B’s along with leading scorer Brad Marchand. The Bruins are still nearly two weeks out from the Sept. 18 preseason opener against the Montreal Canadiens in Quebec City. That will be when Pastrnak truly begins to fall behind his teammates if the two sides can’t hammer something out in the next 10 days.